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NATHAN NOBLE 



A SOLDIER OF THREE WARS 










A SOLDIER OF THREE WARS 



Nathan Noble of New Boston 



[NOW GRAY, MAINE] 



THE STORY OF AN ANCESTOR 



BY 

NATHAN GOOLD 

HIS GREAT-GREAT-GRANDSON 



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PORTLAND, MAINE 

THE THURSTON PRINT 
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A SOLDIER OF THREE WARS. 
NATHAN NOBLE OF NEW BOSTON, NOW GRAY, MAINE. 

BY NATHAN GOOLD. 

And though the warrior's sun has set, 
Its light shall linger round us yet, 
Bright, radiant, blest. 

Truth is stranger than fiction, so are the stories of 
the lives of the men and women of the days when 
men's souls were tried more interesting and instruc- 
tive than the most fascinating novel written by a gifted 
author. How well those forefathers met the respon- 
sibilities of their time and generation will always 
be an interesting study for their descendants and the 
historian, as everyone must at some time have some 
curiosity to know whether his ancestors were worthy 
men and women. 

Those who have passed through a war know what it 
is for men to leave their comfortable homes, bid their 
family and friends perhaps a last farewell and battle 
for their country's existence. It takes a patriot with 
a stout heart to endure the long marches and the 
privations and sufferings without complaint, and in so 
doing those brave men are but repeating history. 
The story of one man is the story of hundreds, and 
will always be, so long as a free people love to transmit 
their freedom to their children. 



The story of the life of Nathan Noble of New Bos- 
ton, now Gray, Maine, answers as an example for others. 
He was a farmer, but of his private life little is known 
by his descendants, but the indications are that he 
was a plain, straightforward man. That he was a 
man of courage and patriotism there can be no doubt, 
as he entered the army only in emergencies. Six 
times he enlisted as a private soldier, and six times he 
left his home and loved ones, perhaps never to return, 
and finally when called upon to meet death he exhib- 
ited the same resolute courage that he had shown 
through his life, dying as a grand example of the brave 
patriots of the American Revolution. 

Nathan Noble was born in New Milford, Connect- 
icut, February 24, 1723, and! was the son of John Jr., 
and his second wife Abigail (Buck) Noble of that town. 
His father was born in Westfield, Massachusetts, Feb- 
ruary 15, 1685; was a member of the Congregational 
church, and captain of the train band in 1732. He 
had three wives, and died in the summer of 1773, 
aged eighty-eight years. In his will, probated Sep- 
tember 7, 1773, he gave his daughter Rachel, as an 
additional bequest, his "Negro man Robbin," after the 
decease of his wife. He had thirteen children ; but 
three sons grew to manhood. His oldest son, Thomas, 
was a successful business man at New Milford, was 
selectman, representative to the General Assembly, 
and was a member of the Episcopal church in his 
later years. He was " a man of unblemished charac- 
ter, universally esteemed by all who knew him." He 



/ 



had eleven children. Beside Nathan, there was a son 
John who married and died, aged about forty, at New 
Milford, and had four children. 

Nathan Noble's mother was Abigail, the daughter 
of Ezekiel and Rachel Buck, and a granddaughter of 
Emanuel Buck of Wethersfield, Connecticut. She 
was born in January, 1691, was a member of the 
church, and died about 1731. 

Nathan Noble's paternal grandfather was John 
Noble, born in Springfield, Massachusetts, March 6, 
1662, who had two wives and eleven children. He 
was the first white settler of New Milford, Connecti- 
cut, and founder of that beautiful town, in abont 1707. 
He was a public-spirited and prominent citizen of the 
town, but died suddenly in the full strength of his 
manhood, August 17, 1714, aged fifty-two years. He 
was a member of the Congregational church. Nathan 
Noble's father was the son of the second wife, Mary 
Goodman, a daughter of Richard and Mary (Terry) 
Goodman of Hadley, Massachusetts. She was born 
November 5, 1665, and married in 1684. Her grand- 
father was Richard Goodman, who was a deacon at 
Cambridge in 1632, at Hartford in 1639, and one of 
the first settlers of Hadley, Massachusetts. His wife 
Mary was a daughter of Stephen Terry, who probably 
came in the Mary and John in 1630, removed to 
Windsor, Connecticut, in 1636, and, about 1657, was a 
member of the first troop of cavalry established in 
this country. He removed to Hadley, where he died 
in September, 1668. 



Nathan Noble's paternal great-grandfather was 
Thomas Noble, the emigrant ancestor of the largest 
family of the name in America, who was born in Eng- 
land as early as 1632. He was at Springfield, Massa- 
chusetts, in 1653, visited England about 1657, and in 
1664, he, with others, erected a sawmill on the west 
side of the Connecticut River. Being there financially 
unsuccessful he removed to Westfield, Massachusetts, 
before 1669, and was one of the early settlers of that 
town. He was a member of the Westfield church 
and a prominent man in the town, where he died Jan- 
uary 20, 1704, aged at least seventy-two years, leav- 
ing a yrood estate. He had ten children. His wife 
was Hannah Warriner, married in 1660 ; she was a 
daughter of William and Joanna (Scant) Warriner of 
Springfield. He was made a freeman May 2, 1638, 
and died June 2, 1676. His wife married, for her 
second husband, in 1705, Dea. Medad Pomeroy, she 
being his third wife. They lived at Northampton, 
Massachusetts, where he was a man of influence and 
of wealth for those times. 

Nathan Noble lived at New Milford until he was 
twenty-two years of age, when he enlisted in Sir 
William Pepperrell's Louisburg expedition, in 1745, 
probably in Gen. Roger Walcott's regiment under 
Col. Burr, and participated in the siege and surrender 
of the fortress, June 17, 1745, and was there as late 
as October 9 of that year. The fortress of Louisburg 
was the strongest in America, and had cost the French 
about six millions of dollars, and its capture by the 



yeomanry of New England must always be a brilliant 
fact in the history of those colonies, in which Maine 
took a prominent .part. The soldiers endured almost 
incredible hardships, suffering for want of food, cloth- 
ing, severe duty and exposure. It is said the soldiers 
were half naked, covered with vermin and infected 
with a disease which they called "a distemper." 
Nathan Noble returned to his home at the end of his 
service with his health much impaired, suffering, it 
was said, with " fever and ague." 

On May 2, 1748, Nathan Noble married Mary Gray, 
a daughter of John and Phebe Gray of Provincetown, 
Massachusetts, who was born January 13, 1726. 
They both joined the church at New Milford, Novem- 
ber 13, 1748, he being then twenty-five years of age. 
About 1756, they removed to Cape Elizabeth, Maine, 
bringing their daughter Phebe, born May 15, 1749, 
and Reuben, born February 15, 1755, with them. 
They had had three sons who died in infancy at New 
Milford. The next year, 1757, they removed to 
Stroudwater, and his daughter Hannah was born 

April 9, 1757. 

Nathan Noble enlisted, April 12, 1757, with Col. 
Ezekiel dishing, and received one pound, sixteen 
shillings bounty. He joined the Earl of Loudon's 
expedition to recapture Louisburg, which had been 
restored, in 1748, by the treaty of Aix-la-Chappelle, 
when the colonists considered that "the fruits of 
their valor were wrested from them." This expedition 
consisted of about six thousand regulars and about 



6 

five thousand provincial troops, together with a naval 
armament under Admiral Holburn. They arrived at 
Halifax, June 30, and on learning that a large French 
fleet had arrived and that the fortress was strongly 
garrisoned, the earl, being a faint-hearted man of 
small ability, abandoned the enterprise and returned 
home. The following lines were written not long 
after: — 

Lord Loudon, he was a regular general, they say ; 

With a great regular army he went on his way, 

Against Louisburg, to make it his prey, 

But returned — without seeing it — for he didn't feel bold that day. 

The next year, 1758, Nathan Noble again enlisted. 
He joined, April 12, Capt. Samuel Glover's company of 
Col. Williams' regiment, and was in the service over 
six months that year. A billeting roll, on which ap- 
pears his autograph, states that they enlisted in the 
" Intended Expedition against Canada." This expe- 
dition was under the command of Gen. James Aber- 
crombie, and in it the colony of Massachusetts had 
about seven thousand men. In June, the army was 
gathered at the head of Lake George, preparing to cap- 
ture Fort Ticonderoga,and then consisted of over fifteen 
thousand men, of which the provincials numbered over 
nine thousand. Abercrombie was merely the figure- 
head of the expedition. Lord Howe was in reality 
the commander. This young nobleman was but thirty- 
four years of age, but possessed the qualities necessary 
for a leader of men. He reformed the army and shared 
the lot of the common soldier, although a man of rare 



accomplishments. He was loved and respected both 
by the British soldiers and provincials, which was very 
uncommon in those days when prejudice was so strong 
against the regulars. General Wolfe said that Aber- 
crombie was a "heavy man," and that Howe was " the 
best soldier in the British army." 

Under Howe's direction the whole army embarked 
July 5, without confusion, and a spectator said, that 
when they were three miles away the surface of the 
lake was completely hidden from sight. There were 
nine hundred bateaux, one hundred and twenty-live 
whale boats, and a large number of heavy flat boats 
carrying the artillery. The line was from front to 
rear six miles long. The day was fair, each corps had 
its flags and music and the soldiers were in the high- 
est spirits. Parkman says : " The spectacle was 
superb ; the flash of oars and glittering of weapons ; 
the banners, the varied uniforms and the notes of 
the bugle, trumpet, bagpipe and drum answered and 
prolonged by a hundred woodland echoes. I never 
beheld so delightful a prospect, wrote an officer a 
fortnight after." Such a sight is worth almost a 
lifetime. 

The provincials were uniformed in blue, and in their 
ranks were Israel Putman and John Stark, whose 
names, for services after in the Revolutionary war, 
have become a part of our country's history. 

The expedition, headed by Lord Howe and Israel 
Putnam, with two hundred rangers, landed and pro- 
ceeded through the dense woods. The next day, July 
6, they became bewildered and lost their way in the 



8 

forest, when suddenly they came upon the advance 
guard of the French, when a sharp skirmish ensued, in 
which the enemy were defeated, but in which Lord 
Howe was killed. As soon as his death became known 
all was confusion. The loss of one man was the ruin 
of the army. The gallantry of the rangers, who 
fought the fight alone until the rest came back to 
their senses, saved a panic. 

July .8, the army rallied and attacked Fort Ticon- 
deroga, and after a desperate battle in the woods, of 
four hours, Abercrombie was obliged to raise the siege 
and the army retired to the head of Lake George. 
The army returned dejected and in disorder, a marked 
contrast with the pomp of their advance. Our army 
had been defeated by Gen. Montcalm with an inferior 
force, and had lost, in killed, wounded and missing, 
nineteen hundred and fifty-four men and officers. A 
gallant army had been sacrificed by an incompetent 
commander. From this time forth the provincials 
called their commander " Mrs. Nabbycromby." 

August 8, Israel Putnam was captured in a skirmish 
with the French and Indians, and after he was tied to 
a stake by the Indians and the fire lighted about him, 
he was rescued by the French officer Molang and car- 
ried to Montreal, where he found Col. Schuyler as a 
prisoner on parole, and through his efforts Putnam 
was soon exchanged. 

Fort Frontenac, which controlled Lake Ontario, was 
captured August 27, by about three thousand men, 
mostly provincials, under Lieut.-Col. Bradstreet. This 
attempt to capture that important French post was 



only consented to by Abercrombie after a council of 
war, but the news of its capture was cheering tidings 
to the melancholy camp at Lake George. The pro- 
vincial troops were probably discharged about the 
first of November, then returned to their homes, and 
the balance of the army went into winter quarters. 

Nathan Noble's individual services in this campaign 
will probably never be known, but what he saw and 
the experiences he must have had fall to the lot of 
but few men. 

Another year came round, and Nathan Noble en- 
listed, April 2. 1759, from Capt. Nathaniel Jordan's 
Company of Col. Samuel Waldo Jr.'s regiment, and 
the enlistment roll states that he served in Canada the 
year before. On the back of the roll it is stated that 
he took the oath of fidelity at Falmouth, and that he 
had had the second and sixth sections of the articles 
of war read to him. This was certified to by Samuel 
Waldo Jr., as the colonel of the regiment. He, with 
his comrades, joined Gen. Jeffrey Amherst's expedi- 
tion to Fort Ticonderoga and Crown Point in 1759. 
They arrived at Ticonderoga, July 22, and the army 
prepared for a general attack, but the French, after 
partially demolishing the fort, abandoned it, and re- 
tired to Crown Point, being pursued by the English. 
The French then abandoned Crown Point, and retired 
to a small island in the River Sorel, called Aux Noux. 
Gen. Amherst constructed several vessels, and with 
his whole army embarked in pursuit, but was delayed 
by a series of heavy storms, and then the lateness of 
the season rendered it impracticable to further con- 



10 

tinue the undertaking and he returned to Crown 
Point, where he went into winter quarters. 

Nathan Noble has no record of further service in 
the Seven Years' war. The next important events 
known in his life were the births of his son, Nathan 
Jr., February 20, 1761, and his daughter Mary, who 
was born June 24, 1764. He took up a farm at New 
Boston Plantation, now Gray, which was deeded to 
him, May 4, 1767, by " William Shirley Esq., governor 
of the Bahama Island," by his attorney at Boston, 
Eliakim Hutchinson Esq., he agreeing to the condi- 
tions of the grant. This farm of sixty acres " with the 
appurtenances thereto belonging," was lot seventy- 
four, second division, and was situated about a mile 
southwest of Gray Corner, on the West Gray road. 
He probably soon after moved his family to this farm, 
where his youngest child, Anna, was born July 9, 1769. 

Nathan Noble was living in comfortable circum- 
stances in New Boston, at the beginning of the Revo- 
lutionary war. He probably scented the conflict afar 
off, and many must have been the stories of his expe- 
riences in the army that he told those boys. When 
the news came of the battle of Lexington, and that the 
war had begun, his oldest son, Reuben, joined Col. 
Phinney's regiment, determined to do or die. He 
marched to Cambridge in July and served under gen- 
erals Heath, Old Put and Washington, returning home 
about the first of January. In his absence his father 
must have assisted at Falmouth Neck, but sixteen 
miles away, because a man of his spirit could not have 
remained at home during such times of excitement 



11 

and alarms as there were in 1775, when soldiers were 
so much needed. 

In 1776, Gen. Washington called for two months' 
men to assist in driving the British out of Boston, and 
Nathan Noble enlisted February 2, in Capt. Winthrop 
Baston's company, although then fifty-three years of 
age, with a family of six living children. The com- 
pany elected their officers, and marched the same day 
towards Cambridge, walking the entire distance of 
about one hundred and thirty miles. The company 
was assigned to Col. Jacob French's regiment, and 
were employed on the fortifications and guarding the 
powder at Winter Hill. The British evacuated Bos- 
ton, March 17, retreating towards New York, and 
Capt. Baston's company was discharged April 1, their 
time having expired, and Nathan Noble returned 
home. 

Reuben Noble, his oldest son, heard the call for men 
to reenforce the Northern army at Fort Ticonderoga, 
in the summer of 1776. He joined Capt. Johnson's 
company of Col. Wigglesworth's regiment of militia, 
and marched with them. They arrived at Ticonderoga, 
August 5, went into camp near the old fort, and at 
that time were five hundred strong, and in a good 
state of discipline. They probably served in the fleet 
on Lake Champlain, as Col. Wigglesworth had the 
command of the left of the squadron. In November 
they were dismissed, marched down to Albany, and 
home by the way of Hadley, Massachusetts. 

About the time of the return of Reuben, Congress 
had decided to enlist an army for three years or the 



12 

war and offer a bounty. The war was a serious mat- 
ter. Independence had been declared but a little over 
four months, and the new government must be sus- 
tained by the colonies. Nathan Noble, although in his 
fifty-fifth year, volunteered his services, thinking prob- 
ably as others did, that life without liberty was not 
worth living, and with the spirit for independence, he 
enlisted, January 6, 1777, for three years in Capt. John 
Skillings' company of Col. Ebenezer Francis' regiment, 
then forming. He was mustered at Falmouth Neck, 
January 27, by Maj. Daniel llsley, who paid him a 
bounty of twenty-six pounds. They marched to Bev- 
erly, the home of the colonel, he leaving Reuben, who 
had returned from the army, and Nathan Jr., then 
sixteen, to carry on the farm. His colonel was but 
thirty-three years of age and a noble Christian man 
whom the regiment soon learned to love and respect. 
Col. Francis gathered his men in the village church at 
Beverly and held a religious service before they started 
on their march. They arrived at Bennington, Ver- 
mont, about February 1, and there, on a travel roll, 
Nathan Noble was allowed for three hundred and 
eighty-three miles marching. The regiment proceeded 
to Skenesborough, New York, and were there April 3, 
when Capt. John Skillings was killed by a "Jersey 
Blue," probably accidental. Lieut. Samuel Thomes, of 
Stroudwater, was then commissioned captain of the 
company. The regiment served in the garrison at 
Fort Ticonderoga, and Henry Sewall, who died at 
Augusta, Maine, in 1845, was there as an officer in the 
12th Massachusetts regiment, and in a letter, dated 



13 

June 10, 1777, said that Col. Francis' regiment was 
miserably clothed, and that they were obliged to go on 
duty and even on scouting parties without shoes. 

The garrison was forced to evacuate Ticonderoga in 
the early morning of July 6, 1777, when they were 
closely pursued by Gen. Burgoyne's army. This act 
caused great indignation in the colonies against Gen. 
St. Clair, the commander. The Americans neglected 
to fortify Sugar Loaf Hill, which was seven hundred 
feet higher, and commanded the fort. The British 
seized the hill, named it Mount Hope and planted a 
battery on the top. The evacuation was imperative 
to save the garrison of three thousand men. They 
left the fort the next night after the discovery of the 
enemy on the hill, which was bright moonlight, but 
got under way safely. The retreating soldiers were 
so closely pressed that they threw away whatever en- 
cumbered them, and their regimental baggage was 
captured in the morning of July 7. This retreat was 
to Hubbardton, a distance of about twenty-two miles, 
and Col. Francis was in command of the rear guard, 
which consisted of his regiment, the 11th Massa- 
chusetts, Col. Seth Warner's regiment, and Col. 
Hale's New Hampshire militia, all amounting to 
about thirteen hundred men, but they were poorly 
equipped. 

Col. Francis' command camped for the night of July 
6, at Hubbardton, the men being much fatigued by 
their long march. When Gen. Frazer came up with 
the advance guard of the enemy on the morning of 
the seventh, Col. Francis ordered his regiments into a 



14 

line of battle to engage them. Col. Hale's militia dis- 
obeyed orders and fled, being soon after captured, in- 
cluding the colonel. The two remaining regiments, 
consisting of less than nine hundred men, formed for 
the conflict. On the approach of Frazer's troops Col. 
Francis made three terrific charges on their lines, 
heading his men in person. The British fell back, 
but immediately received reenforcements, and in the 
next onslaught Col. Francis was wounded in the right 
arm, but still led his men until he was shot through 
the breast, falling on his face, mortally wounded. The 
exhausted Americans were obliged to fall back, and 
his regiment retreated to Rutland. In the death of 
Col. Francis the army lost a brave and conscientious 
officer. This was one of the most desperate battles 
of the war, and at the time it was said that the Amer- 
icans " fought like lions." In one of the assaults Col. 
Francis' men went into action singing the songs that 
they sung in their village churches at home. The 
British account of the battle said that the Americans 
" fought with the greatest degree of fierceness and 
obstinacy." Lord Balcarres, the young commander of 
the English Light Infantry, in writing of the behav- 
ior of the Americans at Hubbardton, said, " Circum- 
stanced as the enemy were, as an army very hard 
pressed in their retreat, they certainly behaved with 
great gallantry." After the death of Col. Francis, 
Col. Warner took command of the rear guard. Of 
the soldiers who fought on the patriots' side in the 
battle of Hubbardton, about one-quarter part were 
from the province of Maine. 



15 

In the retreat our soldiers endured great privations 
and suffering. Capt. Moses Greenleaf of the 11th 
Massachusetts regiment, wrote in his journal July 8, 
" Our men have no blankets, nothing but the heavens 
to cover them, and not a mouthful of meat or bread. 
Thanks be to God, it continues fair weather." The 
battle was fought on a very warm day and the weather 
continued mild. 

From the time worn journal of Capt. Greenleaf we 
can follow the movements of Nathan Noble's regi- 
ment, and verify the general accounts of the retreats 
and the battle. The journal says : — 

July 2. — Enemy advances with two frigates of twenty-eight guns 
and fifty gunboats. Land troops about two miles from us. 

Saturday, July 5. — 12 o'clock, spied British troops on the moun- 
tain overlooking Ticonderoga. At 9, received the disagreeable 
news of leaving the ground. At 2 next morning, left Ticonderoga. 
At 4, Mt. Independence ; after a most fatiguing march arrived at 
Hubbardton, twenty-two miles from Mt. Independence. Supped 
with Col. Francis. Encamped in the woods, the main body going 
on about four miles. 

Monday, July 7. — Breakfasted with Col. Francis. At 7 he 
came to me and desired me to parade the regiment, which I did. 
At 7^- he came in haste to me, told me an express had arrived from 
Gen. St. Clair informing that we must march with the greatest ex- 
pedition, or the enemy would be upon us, also that they had taken 
Skeensborough with all our baggage ; ordered me to march the reg- 
iment ; immediately marched part of it. At twenty minutes past 
7 the enemy appeared within gunshot of us ; we faced to the right, 
when the firing began, which lasted till 8f A. M. without cessation. 
Numbers fell on both sides ; among ours the brave and ever-to-be- 
lamented Col. Francis, who fought bravely to the last. He first 
received a ball through his right arm, but still continued at the head 
of our troops till he received the fatal wound through his body, 
entering the right breast ; he dropped on his face. Our soldiers 



16 

being overpowered by numbers, were obliged to retreat over the 
mountains, enduring on the march great privations and sufferings. 

Soon after the death of Col. Francis, Lieut.-Col. 
Benjamin Tupper of the Second Massachusetts regi- 
ment, was promoted to the command of the regiment, 
of which four companies were from Maine. 

The Americans retired to the Mohawk River, but 
delayed the progress of Burgoyne by felling trees and 
burning the bridges after them. They had lost in 
the retreats a large part of their artillery and a great 
quantity of stores and provisions. Col. Tupper's reg- 
iment was stationed on Van Shaick's Island, at the 
mouth of the Mohawk, until after September 1, to 
resist the advance of the British on Albany. They 
were at Stillwater from September 9 until October 1, 
and after the surrender marched to Albany, and were 
there October 25. 

In August, Gen. Burgoyne despatched Col. Baum 
with a force to capture the stores at Bennington, but 
on the sixteenth he was defeated by Gen. Stark, and 
Baum was mortally wounded. The loss of the men 
and the effects of this defeat were extremely disas- 
trous to the British cause. 

In September, Burgoyne's army crossed the Hud- 
son River, and encamped on the heights and plains of 
Saratoga the fourteenth. Gen. Horatio Gates took 
command of the American army the nineteenth, and 
marched them from the mouth of the Mohawk River 
to near Stillwater. The removal of Gen. Schiller 
was unjust, as he was a braver and more capable offi- 
cer, and a nobler man than Gen. Gates. 



17 

Now the armies were within about four miles of 
each other, and the eighteenth Gen. Burgoyne formed 
his army close in front of the American left, intend- 
ing to cut his way through to Albany and form a junc- 
tion with Clinton, but Gen. Gates determined to resist 
further progress. The Americans had received many 
reenforcements, so that their numbers greatly ex- 
ceeded the British, but they were mostly undisciplined 
militia. 

The battle of Stillwater was fought in the afternoon 
of September 19, 1777. In the morning activity was 
noticed in the British camp, and about noon the Amer- 
icans sent out a force to resist any advance, and were 
soon engaged. Between two and three o'clock there 
was a lull in the battle, which was only the calm be- 
fore the storm. At about three o'clock the battle 
again commenced, and for three hours it raged furi- 
ously. Few have been more obstinate and unyield- 
ing. The ground was first occupied by one army and 
then by another, the dead of both being mingled to- 
gether. At dark the contest ceased. It had been a 
desperate struggle. Our army retired to their re- 
doubt, the British occupied the battle ground, and 
both claimed the victory. The Americans were much 
elated because they had withstood the best regu- 
lar troops of the English army. This is sometimes 
called the battle of Freeman's Farm. 

The two armies remained near each other until the 
seventh of October, Gen. Gates strengthening his 
position and Burgoyne waiting to hear from Clinton. 
The delay was disastrous to the British, as they had 



18 

consumed nearly all their provisions. Burgoyne in- 
tended to wait until the twelfth for reenforcements 
from Clinton, but circumstances obliged him to move 
previous to that date. Gen. Gates attempted to cut off 
Burgoyne's communications with Canada, and to recap- 
ture the forts Ticonderoga, Independence and George, 
which was only partially successful, and resulted only 
in destroying some of Burgoyne's provisions. This 
forced the British general to make a movement for his 
own preservation, and October 7 he sent out a small 
force to forage and reconnoiter. Gen. Arnold drove 
them back to their camp. Morgan and his rifle-men 
tried to cut them off, and did get six field-pieces from 
them. Then the British general, Frazier, attempted 
to dislodge Morgan, when a general battle commenced 
along the lines, and Frazier fell, mortally wounded. 
The first assault was made on the British left, which 
was repulsed by the British grenadiers. Then our 
army attacked their center, which prevented the Ger- 
mans from sending reenforcements to the grenadiers. 
Then the American left rushed forward and attacked 
the British right, forcing back the English Light In- 
fantry and the 24th regiment, who were by this move- 
ment enabled to assist the grenadiers on their left, 
and but for this aid they would have been cut to 
pieces. Gen. Arnold, at about this point in the bat- 
tle, made his famous assault on the British right, and 
was repulsed, then broke their center, when their left 
and center were in complete disorder, and but for the 
stubborn resistance of the English Light Infantry and 
the 24th regiment the British army would have been 



19 

completely demoralized. Arnold, during one of his 
mad charges, was carried from the field wounded in 
the leg, but the Americans kept on. 

Toward night, after the battle was won, and as Col. 
Tnpper's regiment was taking possession of the ene- 
my's works, Nathan Noble was struck in the forehead 
by a musket-ball and mortally wounded. He never 
spoke afterward. On an original return taken at Val- 
ley Forge, January 26, 1778, appear these words after 
his name, " Slain in battle October 7, 1777." 

Far better would it have been that Benedict Arnold, 
the brave and gallant soldier, the ambitious and un- 
scrupulous man, who in an hour of disappointment 
turned traitor to his country, had also been slain in 
that battle while leading the Americans to victory. 
Then his statue would adorn the vacant niche in the 
monument erected to commemorate the deeds of 
valor on that field. 

In the battle Gen. Gates' left completely turned the 
right wing of Burgoyne's army, capturing a large 
quantity of the munitions of war and many prisoners. 
A British account said that the Americans " threw 
themselves with frenzy on the British lines." 

Our army forced the British to the heights above 
Stillwater, and at nine o'clock in the night of October 
8, during a heavy rain, Gen. Burgoyne commenced 
his retreat toward Saratoga, leaving behind his sick 
and wounded, who were well cared for by Gen. Gates. 
The Americans prevented Burgoyne's attempted re- 
treat toward Fort Edward, and finally, after finding 
that his several plans for escape must be unsuccessful, 



20 

and his provisions being about exhausted, held a coun- 
cil of war October 13, which finally ended in the sur- 
render of October 17, 1777, of his army, of about six 
thousand men, thirty-five brass field-pieces, and nearly 
five thousand muskets, besides an immense quantity 
of other munitions of war. This was a brilliant vic- 
tory for the Americans, and the most important of 
the whole war, and without which it is doubtful 
whether we should have obtained our independence. 

These two battles were fought on Bemis Heights, 
in the town of Stillwater and county of Saratoga, 
hence their names. The last battle is called the first 
battle of Saratoga, the second battle of Stillwater, 
and the battle of Bemis Heights. 

Gen. Epaphras Hoyt, the historian, visited the bat- 
tlefield in 1825, and in speaking of the knoll where 
Lord Balcarras was posted, in his second position, said: 

In the battle of October 7, here toward the close of the day, 
Arnold, with Poor's and Patterson's brigades, made his desperate 
attack, and was repulsed. "A more determined perseverance," says 
the British commander, ' ' than the Americans showed in this attack 
upon the lines, though they were finally repulsed by the corps under 
Lord Balcarras, I believe is not in any officer's experience." Had 
the assailants been less embarrassed with the abattis probably they 
would have carried the works, though manned with Burgoyne's best 
troops. 

Other historians say it was Glover's brigade instead 
of Poor's. Col. Tupper's 11th Massachusetts regi- 
ment was in Patterson's brigade. 

Soon after the surrender a Hessian officer wrote of 
the appearance of the American soldiers, that they 



21 

were slender, sinewy, and averaged four to six inches 
taller than the men of the German regiments : — 

Not a man was regularly equipped. Each one had on the 
clothes he was accustomed to wear in the field, tavern, the church, 
and in everday life. The determination which caused them to 
grasp the musket and powder-horn can be seen in their faces as well 
as the fact that they are not to be fooled with, especially in skir- 
mishes in the woods. 

Nathan Noble was but one brave soldier in one of 
the best and bravest regiments in Gen. Gates' army ; 
a regiment who fought gallantly at Hubbardton, Still- 
water, and at Bemis Heights, and had followed Arnold 
in his mad charges on the British lines. In the win- 
ter of 1777-78 this regiment drank of the very dregs 
of despair at Valley Forge, and at the battle of Mon- 
mouth, on that hot day of June 28, 1778, they added 
more to their proud record, ending their service in the 
march to Danbury, Connecticut, in the fall of 1778, 
and the operations on the Hudson River. They were 
an honor to the colony of Massachusetts Bay. 

Nathan Noble went through the battles of Hubbard- 
ton and Stillwater without injury, but he suffered 
from exposure and want of proper food and clothing 
in the retreats. On the morning of October 7, he 
fully realized what the day might bring forth, for he 
told his comrades that he should not live through the 
day. It was a presentiment of his fate. He died as 
a brave soldier dies, and no doubt his comrades laid 
his body tenderly in what is now an unknown grave 
on the field of one of the fifteen decisive battles of 
the world. He was nearly fifty-five years of age. 



22 

Nathan Noble had been twice in expeditions to cap- 
ture Louisburg, twice he went to Lakes George and 
Champlain against the French, served during the siege 
of Boston in 1776, under Washington, and finally in 
the battles of the Saratoga campaign, where he died 
as a soldier dies, at a supreme moment in the struggle 
for independence. He probably never saw the flag of 
his country, the stars and stripes, as that flag was not 
unfurled over Gates' army until the surrender, the 
seventeenth, although a crude affair had been raised 
at Fort Stanwix a short time before. 

The proud boast of the survivors of his regiment 
through their lives was that they served in the left 
wing of Gen. Gates' army at Saratoga in 1777, in Col. 
Tupper's 11th Massachusetts regiment. 

The news of the death of Nathan Noble probably 
did not reach his home at New Boston for perhaps 
two weeks, without a special effort was made to for- 
ward the news. There at his home were his family, 
attending to the duties about the farm. The family 
then consisted of his wife Mary, then fifty-one, the 
oldest son, Reuben, then twenty-two, and his wife 
Hannah, who had been married but nine months, his 
daughter Hannah, then twenty, Nathan Jr., aged six- 
teen, Mary thirteen, and the youngest child Anna, 
then eight years of age, making a family of seven. 
His oldest daughter Phebe was married and lived at 
Windham. During the hours of each day their 
thoughts must have turned to the head of the family 
who was battling for his country's freedom. They 
probably knew of his being in that retreat from Fort 



23 

Ticonderoga, also in the fierce assaults at Hubbardton, 
and in the stubborn battle of Stillwater, and that he 
had escaped injury. They no doubt hoped and prayed 
for his safe return, but it was not to be. Sad must 
have been the news to that family and great their 
grief at the loss of the husband and father, and their 
only comfort, as they gathered about their mother, 
was that he had died bravely while upholding the 
honor of the colonies, and had laid down his life that 
they might enjoy the blessings of liberty. 

Mary Noble, his wife, lived but eight years after 
her husband's death, dying October 29, 1785, aged 
fifty-nine years. The oldest child, Phebe Noble, mar- 
ried, in 1775, a young Quaker at Windham named 
Benjamin Goold, who had come from Kittery to that 
town. Their first child, Simeon, was born July 4, 
1776, Independence Day. The next child was born 
the next April after her father was killed, and she 
named him Nathan, for her father. He became a 
prominent man in Windham, and was captain of the 
town company in the war of 1812. Phebe had ten 
children. William Goold the historian, of Windham, 
was the son of Nathan, and her grandson. He recol- 
lected his grandmother " as a smart old lady in Quaker 
dress, whose meetings she belonged to, and reg- 
ularly attended Sunday and Thursday mornings. She 
always rode a pacing horse, familiarly called ' Knitting 
Work.' ' She died in a lethargy, after sleeping four 
days, February 19, 1817, aged sixty-seven years. 

Nathan Noble's three next children were sons, who 
died in infancy, and then came Reuben, who married 



24 

Hannah Merrill in 1777. He enlisted May 15, 1775 r 
in Capt. Moses Merrill's company in Col. Edmund 
Phinney's 31st Regiment of Foot, and served until 
December 31 of that year. He also served in Capt. 
Samuel Johnson's company in Col. Edward Wiggles- 
worth's regiment, and took part in the campaign at 
Lake Champlain in the fall of 1776. Reuben lived at 
Gray, occupying his father's farm until 1778, when he 
sold it, excepting the buildings and one acre of land, 
which had been set off to his mother as her dower. 
He removed to North Yarmouth, and about 17S2 to 
Mt. Desert, where he died October 20, 1818, aged 
sixty-three years. The next child, Hannah, married 
Elisha Hayden ; they first lived in Hebron, then re- 
moved to Bernardstown, now Madison, Maine, where 
she died June 11, 1801, aged forty-four years. 

The next child was Nathan Jr., who married Han- 
nah Hobbs in 1785. He enlisted, at eighteen years 
of age, in Capt. Nathan Merrill's company in Col. 
Jonathan Mitchell's regiment, and served in the Bag- 
aduce expedition in the year 1779. He probably 
lived in his father's house at Gray, his mother living 
with him until her death. He bought, in 1789, one 
hundred and twelve acres of land in Rustfield Planta- 
tion, now Norway, Maine, and sold his farm and his 
father's buildings to John Humphrey, March 25, 1790, 
and was one of the early settlers of Norway, in 1789. 
His wife's father, Jeremiah Hobbs, had lived there 
since 1786. He was a prominent citizen in the town, 
and served eleven years as selectman ; had four sons 
in the war of 1812, and several descendants in the 



25 

war of the Rebellion. He died at Norway, January 
13, 1827, aged sixty-five years. Next came Mary, 
who married Malachi Bartlett in 1790. She first lived 
at Hartford, Maine, then moved to Dead River, Maine, 
and after a few years to Vassalborough, Maine, where 
her husband died February 28, 1831, aged seventy- 
one years. She was alive at Dead River in March, 
1853. The youngest child was Anna, who married 
Nathaniel Fuller in 1797, and lived at Hebron, Maine, 
where she died August 24, 1861, aged ninety-two 
years. She left among her descendants the memory 
of a woman who was social, kind and gentle in her 
manner,, and was beloved by all. 

Nathan Noble was my grandfather's grandfather, 
from whom we inherited our Christian name, and to 
whom we are indebted for a modest, heroic life, to 
which it is my pleasure to pay this simple tribute that 
he may never be forgotten, at least by his descendants. 

He left as a heritage to all his posterity the mem- 
ory of a man who made the greatest sacrifice for his 
country — his life — and lived to the family motto, 
" Death rather than dishonor." 

Rest on, embalmed and sainted dead, 

Dear as the blood you gave ; 
No impious footsteps here shall tread 

The herbage of your grave ; 
Nor shall your glory be forgot 

While Fame her record keeps, 
Or Honor points the hallowed spot 

Where valor proudly sleeps. 



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